


Sibling rivalry

by Waywardgoose



Series: Ironwitch pals [3]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Acidental adoption, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Childhood Trauma, Domestic Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Miscommunication, Parent Tony Stark, Peter just wants a sister i guess, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 02:46:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18791428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywardgoose/pseuds/Waywardgoose
Summary: When Tony met Wanda for the first time, she zapped him with her scary hexes. He probably should have guessed Peter would get the same treatment. (Or; the disastrous first time Tony's super kids met and how he ended up outnumbered by tired Gen z's)





	Sibling rivalry

Maybe grounding her for three whole months had been a little extreme, but then so was jumping in front of a bullet and dammit, Wanda Maximoff needed to learn there were consequences to her impulsive actions.

For example; death.

 

Tony didn’t want to think about what would have happened if the team hadn’t been so close to the Quinjet when she was hit. There were still days seeing her napping on the sofa sent him spiralling back to the hospital ward, watching her fade away. So when he thought about that, Tony found three months was rather lenient all things considered.

For the most part, Wanda didn’t actually complain, she just got on with her studies during the daytime and discovered she was actually _good_ at cooking when given the ingredients (and a kitchen to explode). She’d even improved at guitar- even if she made a point of only learning taylor swift songs to spite him. There was something rather amusing about the emo angst queen strumming along to _Sparks fly_ , so he didn’t try stop her.

  
(Besides, he was building up a healthy stockpile of footage to embarrass her with someday)

 

She still had to go for training during the weekends- but with the strict agreement that she wasn’t allowed to participate in any actual field missions till her punishment was over. At first, Wanda saw it as an insult to her abilities and rallied against it, begged them to give her another chance so she could try wipe the red from her leger.

Then she got a 62% on her maths test and Tony forgot he was meant to be punishing her. He made them grilled cheese and they settled down to watch X-Files together till Pepper got back from a business meeting and nearly cried from laughing at him. Apparently, she’d had a bet going with Natasha over how long till he broke- The Widow had given him an optimistic eight weeks, Pepper said six.

  
He lasted a month.

Maybe he wasn’t as good a being bad cop as he thought he was. He couldn’t help it-  the witch had him wrapped around her pinkie finger.

Still, because of the weekend arrangements Tony had never actually gotten around to introducing Wanda and Peter. Which was strange, considering how large their roles in his life were. And maybe, it was partly his fault. Pepper kept nudging him to ‘introduce the kids’ (as if there wasn’t even a little part of her weirded out by their sudden teen acquisition. Tony was pretty sure it was just because she took joy in mothering them to death)

  
Tony pretended it was their misaligned schedules. When he’d first met Peter a few weeks after Wanda was shipped off to the compound in the summer, he’d originally been brought on as an ‘intern’ during weekdays when Wanda was busy saving the planet and getting her ass kicked on the training room floor.

Then just before Wanda’s accident (or as Tony considered it: the day her last brain cell died), Peter started school again and he took time out of interning to adjust to the new semester and so their schedules flipped: Peter was working with Tony over the weekend and Wanda was back to living with him during the weekdays.

Truthfully, he wasn’t entirely sure Wanda actually knew of Peter’s existence beyond the framed Photos of his spiderson’s science fair. Wanda was observant yes, but she was also naive and Tony found it easy to deflect her questions. 

 

So a month and a week into her half hearted incarceration, the universe had enough of waiting and decided to force it on him.

 

She was annoying him in his workshop, spinning aimlessly on a swivel chair as he made her recite the seven times table. Wanda made it to three sevens when she stopped suddenly.

“Oi. Four sevens?” Tony shimmied out from under the car engine he’d been tinkering with and saw her staring at the door, eyes alit with scarlet. As creepy as it was it was something he’d grown to know as habits- sometimes she'd see something or feel it ebbing around in the air and decide it’s more interesting to watch than her current reality.

Clint once pointed out she’d be ideal in a horror movie. Tony was still considering selling her to hollywood directors if she ever got too much to handle. "Wanda? What is it girl, what do you see?" Tony asked her in an excited baby voice, as if she were a small animal.

She snapped back to him, eyes narrowed. “ _Not_ dog. I feel something, someone coming”

And the doors opened a flash of violent crimson dazzled him for a moment.  

“Oh MY GOD Mr Stark?!” A familiar voice squeaked out. Wanda's scarlet had grabbed Peter by the throat and was pinning him several feet of the ground against the wall.

 

“Hey FRIDAY? a little warning would have been nice”

“ _You_ told me to forward notifications to your tablet, boss”

 

 _Shit_.

of _course_ FRIDAY wouldn’t have notified him- Wanda was still jumpy around disembodied voices so he’d minimised the notifications whenever Wanda was around. It was almost three, which meant he was very late dropping Wanda off and too early to be picking Peter up.

As if to prove a point, his intern made a horrible choking noise.

Right. _Peter_.

 

“Wanda _down_ ” He clicked his fingers at her.

“Not dog” She snapped, the scarlet pulsing around Peter’s neck.  

“No- yes- I _know_ , I mean put him down. He’s allowed in here” Wanda flicked her wrist dropping Peter back on the floor in a heap.

“You’re early” He told the teenager, as if that could begin to explain why the newest member of the avengers roster just attacked him. Not that Peter seemed to care, as he gazed up at her with the same star struck admiration he usually reserved for Tony.  

“Yeah, I got a free period, Miss Potts said I should come up here...Are...are you the scarlet witch?” He stared at Wanda like she were a god come to life.

“Hmm, what are you?” Wanda’s voice was low and almost sounded feral, scarlet pulsing in her palms.

“Uh. yeah, this is Peter, he’s my intern” Tony helped him off the ground, if nothing else to give the poor boy a little dignity back. “Pete this is Wanda”  

“Oh my god, it really is -? You _are_ the scarlet witch? Uh, It’s an honour to meet you. You’re so cool- I Mean, My friend Ned is in love with you”

“Same” Wanda seemed to visibly cringe at herself for that. “Uh, No. Not same. I mean- I don’t- meeting you is good. Yes. Hello”

  
And just like that Tony was caught in the middle of a stare down between his two pseudo children- one a friendly neighbourhood vigilante who had a masters degree in nervousness and the other a skittish Witch with a history of violence and impulsive choices when frightened.

  
“Well, this is suitably awkward” Tony ran a hand through his hair, mind spiralling as he tried to come up with a way to take control of the situation.

“You do not tell me you were busy” Wanda glowered, her accent thick.  

“Lost track of time, entirely your fault of course, I was meant to have you back by two. But whatever, this was bound to happen someday” Even if he’d have liked some prior planning for damage control “It would have been nice to introduce you in a less uh, dramatic way but you have very different schedules and it seemed like a lot of effort”

(And because every possible solution he’d envisioned ended up about as smooth as what was unfolding in front of him.)

 

“It’s really nice to meet you” Peter held his hand out for her to shake it and Wanda stared as if it were a foreign object. Fantastic. Now he’d have to apologise for his wayward teen being both semi homicidal _and_ rude to his intern.

“I’m going home” She announced before quickly striding off.

“Maximoff-” The door slammed behind him. Fantastic. He’d to deal with that later, one problem at a time.

“Uh...Sorry I’m early?” Peter took his backpack off and dropped it off on the chair Wanda had previously claimed.

“Not your fault kid. Are you alright?” Peter nodded furiously and he chose to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he was secretly harbouring first degree burns from a neurotic witch so be it. “So! Did you bring the web shooters? FRIDAY, music please?”

 

After he’d safely dropped Peter back off at his Aunt’s for the evening Tony swung round to the compound to damage control. It was only nine and he had no illusions that Wanda was actually asleep, so he looked for her in the common room first.

Steve was playing pool with Sam but there was no sign of the thorn in his side (or anyone else for that matter). Both men nodded up in greeting when the mechanic walked in. “Tony! You’re here pretty late, is everything okay?” Steve asked, taking a shot at one of the red balls.

“Hey, uh, yeah no superbots or anything so we’re good. Where’s spooky?”

“She went to sulk in her room” Steve’s lips quirked into a smile. “She got back safe” As if that was the main worry in that moment. Maybe it _had_ been a worry, as hearing she got back safe loosened something in his chest and he took a sigh of relief.    

“She told us you have a strange boy over” Good old Sam, reminding him the real reason he’d driven across the city when he could have been having wine with Pepper.

“Oh, of course she did” Tony rolled his eyes “It’s my intern”

“Well, whatever he said she’s beating herself up over it” Steve frowned.

Sam took Steve’s pool cue and sent the white ball bouncing off the sides of the table. “Though it could also be cause Natasha made her run a mile when she got back. Poor kid looked exhausted”

  
Tony excused himself and made a beeline for Wanda’s room. He knocked, gave her a moment to answer then walked in anyway. Wanda’s room at the compound was nothing like her room at his place. There were no fairy lights or polaroid pictures, no soft toys or nest of fuzzy blankets and pillows. The only thing particularly _Wanda_ about her room at the facility was the knitted blanket Laura Barton made her, stacks of books and the slightly unnerving shrine she’d made to Pietro (that he _really_ needed to talk with her about, another problem for another day). It felt bland and a little lifeless, like maybe she was still trying to make herself at home but afraid of how to go about it.

Wanda was curled up in the middle of her bed, face buried into her pillow.

“So. Steve said you were in here” He walked to her, stepping over the discarded workout gear she’d swapped for pajamas. The somewhat responsible side of him urged him to scold her because dammit the laundry basket was right there and she was a telekinetic so she didn’t even need to move. Lazy brat.

“Where else would I be?” She grumbled, her voice muffled by the cushion.

“Oh give it up, kid. It’s friday night and Cap’s the only person left on the planet who’s worse than me at punishing you” When he’d dropped her off the week before he’d gotten sidetracked chatting with Nat and by the time Tony had gotten around to leaving he’d caught Steve in the middle of teaching her poker. Now she’d moved back in with Tony temporarily, Steve saved all his doting up for after her friday evening training session.

“I was sleepy” Wanda lied. “I told Steve I do not want to talk”  
  
“Uhuh. Heard Nat had you running”

“She _always_ makes me run! Today she want my legs to fall off”

“Yeah? Well what do I tell you, Maximoff. Karma’s a bitch” He pretended not to hear her reply. Steve would explode if he heard such language.

“Listen I’m sorry you had to meet Peter like that, but I’m glad it happened” And he actually was. They were through some wild twists of fate both genuinely important to him. He wanted them to be comfortable around each other because if nothing else they were probably going to be sat next to each other at birthdays and thanksgivings and christmas’ to come.

 _And hanukkah_ , he added as an afterthought for Wanda. Then he made a mental note to google what Hanukkah actually was before-

“Even though I hurt him?” Wanda interrupted his train of thought. Right. Scolding her. _That’s_ what he was meant to be doing.

“Yeah, well. You _do_ need to apologise for choking him”

“He was stranger” Wanda’s voice wobbled a little.“You never told me you had...him”

“I didn’t think I had to. Unlike you, I have more than one friend”

“I have more than one friend!” And if it wasn’t for her insecurities on the subject, Tony was pretty sure she would have started listing them off. Wanda required constant reminders that _yes_ she was wanted _no_ it wasn’t a trap- courtesy of Sokovia’s fantastic social care system delivering her to the streets aged ten.

 And probably HYDRA too.

 (Fucking HYDRA)

 Still the witch fell neatly into his trap so he sat next to her on the bed and feigned nonchalance. “I know Peter wants to be your friend” Wanda looked up at him through a veil of dark hair.

“You liar?”

“Nope. He wants to be friends with everyone. He’s like a labrador”

“A what?”

“It’s a dog”

“ _Peter is not Dog_ ” Wanda snapped. And then she told him “I will be his friend”   

Tony felt a little guilty- as if he’d somehow tricked her into it, but Wanda continued to bombard him with questions about his young intern till she fell asleep and it worked exactly how he hoped it would.

 

He called Peter over on the Monday after school (after promising May he’d be back before his 10pm curfew) and Wanda apologised, scuffing her doc Martens against the floof while she held out her hand as a peace offering.

Their conversation was a little stuttering at first, short bursts of words followed by long silences, but the gaps grew shorter as the day went on and Peter did an amicable job at following along with Wanda’s broken english and Wanda nodded and smiled as she tried to keep up with Peter’s long rambling tangents.

Wanda probed him over and over, asking for stories about school and his classes and his friends. Peter was all too happy to answer, probably unaware that she was living vicariously through his stories. It made something twist in Tony’s gut when he caught her wiping away a stray tear as Peter told her about the junior year school play.

After Wanda deflected the first couple of questions, Peter learnt not to ask about Sokovia or family or school. Instead, he took to reciting Memes and talking about pop culture, expertly figuring out what she’d heard of and what she was oblivious to.

And It was _nice_ to hear the witch talk with someone close to her own age for once. Even if that meant being subject to a ridiculous amount of Gen Z jokes. It took them a while, but they found common ground in a children’s show of all things- and damn if that didn’t make Tony feel ancient. Apparently, the _only_ TV show Wanda remembered from her too-short childhood in Sokovia was actually an american Cartoon.

Peter was humming along as he helped his mentor realign the wires in Natasha’s Widow bites when Wanda looked up from her phone and abruptly asked him about it.

“You know _Kim Svemoćna_ ?”

“Who?”

“Mm, It was, spy girl - she looks like Nat? _Ja sam curka obična, Koja mnoge stvari zna, Svih ću spasit' jer sam Kim Svemoćna_ ” She sang along to the same tune Peter had just been humming.

“Oh my god- _Oh my god?_ Do you mean _kim possible_? What did you call it? Kim Swarmocha?”

  
Wanda flushed and looked away. “ _Svemoćna_ ” She sounded out for him slowly. “It means she is, um, All powerful? Eternal? Like Elohim” Peter had the kind of quizzical deep-in-thought expression on his face that usually meant he was going to ask about something. Something in this case, being Wanda’s faith.

Tony stepped in before his protegee could step on any emotional minefields. “Give her a break, Petey, she watched it in Sokovian”

“Well, _yeah_ , that’s kind of obvious, Mr Stark” and then Peter grabbed her hand without asking and for a horrifying moment Tony expected him to go flying into the nearest wall. Her left hand twitched and flickered at her side, but Peter remained firmly on the ground. _Good girl,_ Tony thought, pleasantly surprised at her progress.

“I can’t believe you watched it, Wanda! Who was your favourite? Was it Shego? You remind me of Shego- no offence- oh! You know what we should do? We should dress as Ron and Kim for Halloween”

“What” Wanda pulled her hand away, took a step away from him.

“You know, Halloween? You dress up and get candy?” Wanda’s eyes narrowed. “Come on, you must know about halloween? It’s the best holiday in the _year_!”

Something snapped in over that, Wanda and Tony could swear he saw all five stages of grief flicker across her face.

“I am Sokovian not from Mars, we did not have time for candy and dressing up when we are being bombed and dying on streets” She snarled. Peter’s expression crumpled as he realised just what he’d said.

“Oh, no, heck- i’m sorry-” Wanda stormed off before Peter could finish.

 _Shit_. Tony didn’t see that coming.

 

Tony found her on the roof, as he always did when she was upset. Pepper said it was Wanda’s hideaway from the world and made a point of reminding him to give her space everytime she slinked off to it. He understood why she’d chosen it- needing open space was just one of those side effects of being locked away in the dark after all- but it was a bit of a nuisance having to climb up the fire escape everytime she was being an angsty teen.

Wanda was sat on the edge, her feet dangling over the side and a small voice in his head (that sounded suspiciously like steve rogers) told him to pull her away. He didn’t.

“So, you gonna hide up here all night then? Cause Pepper’s made you hot chocolate and it’s starting to go cold”

“is not fair” she mumbled.

“What’s not fair? The hot chocolate?” He asked her as patiently as he could. As much as he liked her, it was easy to tire over Wanda Maximoff’s erratic mood swings. One day, he was really going to get her tested for something beyond the cocktail of PTSD, depression and anxiety, OCD and paranoia and whatever-the-hell they’d diagnosed her with since the last time he’d asked.

“Peter. He is seventeen, so we are almost same age, yes?”

Tony nodded. There were only a few months between them, but hearing how world weary she sounded in that moment it might as well have been a hundred years.

“So why was I born _there_ , and he born here?” Wanda’s voice cracked “Why did he get to be happy? Why did he get halloween and school and friends?”

“Oh, _Sweetheart_ ” his heart squeezed in an awful way. Tony thought of everything, why didn’t he think of _that_?  Feeling useless, he sat down next to her and bundled her into his side. She stiffened first, made a show of trying to pull away before she melted into his side and clung to him like he was the only thing left in the world. “These things are never fair”

“I hate him” She confessed “I hate all the people here, who go to school and starbucks and parties and never think for us. My country was dying but nobody saw till we were falling from the sky and _I hate it_ ”

“You don’t” He told her, because he’d come to know her and that included her tells.

“I don’t” She agreed, bitterness lacing her voice. “But I want to” because it was easier than hating Sokovia, the country she’d fought and bled for so much it ended with her cut open on a scientists table.

(The same country would never want her back.)

“Look, we can be ignorant okay, it’s an american thing. But Peter’s a good kid and he knows loss. He’s a member of team Orphan and fucked up as it is, that’s something you can share with him that most kids your age can’t”

Wanda looked up at him then, the kohl under her eyes smudged down her cheeks in little tear tracks.

“He is...kind. Like Pietro. And I want...Maybe we could be friend still” She said, sounding so young and hopeful it hurt Tony’s heart to think about.

“Well his downstairs. he wants to apologise before he goes” He waited moment before asking “Want me to send him home?”

“No. I’ll...No. I’ll come”

 

Peter was sat with Pepper in living room, each with a steaming mug in hand. Tony gave him a little nod when he brought the witch in and Peter sprang to his feet and made a beeline for the witch.

Wanda nodded like a bobble-head toy throughout Peter’s rambled apology. She kept trying to interject, tell him it was okay and she was _fine_ , but quickly gave up because there was no stopping that boy when he was on a roll. So the witch tried to hug him.

If Tony ever believed the few hugs he’d shared with Wanda were awkward, they had nothing on what the Spiderkid was getting.

She looked genuinely confused over what to do once she’d pulled him against her and Peter was too busy losing it because _the scarlet witch was hugging him_ to help her out. Wanda seemed aware that it was going on for longer than usual so she patted the side of his arm and-

 

And then she _kissed_ him.

 

Tony choked on his coffee. It was only a quick peck on the lips, but it was apparently enough to short circuit Peter’s entire brain because when she abruptly let go, the teen was a blushing stuttering mess.

 

(Tony supposed he couldn’t blame the poor kid. He had been kissed by one of his idols)

 

“ _Wanda_ ?” Pepper gasped, her voice torn between horrified and impressed. The older woman glanced at Tony as if expecting _him_ to step in and do something. As if he knew what to do, shock and bewilderment washed over him and freezing his brain.

 “Uh. Yeah. What was that?!” Tony got out around spluttering.      

Wanda was looking between the adults in the room, her cheeks flushed as though she'd just been caught with her hand in a cookie jar. “Pietro liked it- Mama tell us to kiss and make up when we fight so- so we...I thought It would fix this. So we are not fighting now” Tony could sort of follow her screwed up logic, the socially stunted disaster in her saw it that Peter was like Pietro and therefore shared the same blurred social boundaries the twins previously had.

 “let’s save this for therapy, kid” Because _that_ wasn’t something he’d even given much thought to, but now it was all Tony could think about. She was like an onion of issues, layered upon layer. There should be papers written about this girl and the after effects of leaving children to grow up homeless in warzones with no adult influence.  

“Oh, Honey _no,_ you don’t have to kiss people to fix things” Pepper chided. “Peter are you okay?”

“I’m Sorry” Wanda blurted at him before Peter could say anything “I wanted you to not be upset- i’m sorry?”  

“That was my first kiss” Peter blinked, a blush rising on his cheeks as he held a finger to his lips “The scarlet witch was my first kiss. Ned’s never going to believe this. That was... _Wow._ uh _._ I’m great- so _great_ ”

Everyone was silent for a moment, still reeling from what happened. “Oh. Well. Your breath is bad” Wanda told him bluntly. And then to hammer the issue home, she reached into her dress pocket and offered him chewing gum as a peace offering. Tony had never been more tempted to throw her out the window.

Peter didn’t seem offended by it. His protegee just rubbed the back of his neck a mannerism _both_ kids totally copied from him- and shook his head in apology. “I’m allergic to mint. Spider thing, hurts my throat”

“You’re a _spider_ ?” Wanda seemed thoroughly disgusted by the idea, wiping any traces of him left on her mouth.  

“Well...yeah? I _am_ spiderman?” Peter sounded a little dejected, as if he believed the reason Wanda didn’t know was because Wanda hadn’t heard of him. The witch dropped her hand in surprise.

“ _What_?” She half yelped, sparks of red flickering at her fingers as she covered her mouth.  

“Wait. Wait, _you_ didn’t know?” Peter looked up at Tony. “Mr Stark? You didn’t tell her?”

Wanda looked between Pepper and Tony, sat side by side on the sofa as they watched the disaster unfold.

“It’s your hobby not mine”  Tony told him, a little defensive. Peter frowned at the word hobby and under normal circumstances Tony would probably have gotten a lecture on the whole _‘great power is great responsibility_ ’ thing.  
  
“So- wait- you wanted to be my friend...anyway? Even though you thought I was like normal?”

“Yes? _Yes_. but you’re spiderman?” Wanda stared as if she was just seeing him for the first time, no doubt trying to connect the blurry film footage of a masked teen jumping around in a hoodie to the guy in front of her.

“Yes…?” Peter answered, as if he wasn’t sure that he was the spiderman Wanda was thinking off. Like there was anyone else like him in the world.

“That’s kind of cool. I saw…The old man show me your youtube. It’s...fun”

Peter turned to Tony and the mechanic tried his best not to be offended that his protege assumed Tony was _old man_ . “Mr Stark? you showed the _Scarlet Witch_ my youtube channel?” 

“Yeah, she gets a kick out of watching you slam into walls” Pepper glowered at him for that.

(but it was totally worth it just to watch both the teens cringe in shame)

“So were you born a spider or did HYDRA hurt you too?” Wanda was, if nothing else, efficient and to the point.

Whether the look on Peter’s face was pity or sympathy, Tony wasn’t sure. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem to care either way as she let him pat her arm in comfort. “No, no, I got bitten by a spider”

“Like dracula?” Wanda cocked her head slightly.

“ _Tony_! You let her watch Dracula?” Pepper hit his arm. Right. cause horror movies were the cause of Wanda's problem.  

“She’s gonna have nightmares anyway!”

Wanda and Peter shared a look of amusement and exhaustion. A kind of unspoken _‘can you believe this guy?’_ Great. They’d apparently found the perfect middleground in ganging up on him.

“It wasn't like a vampire spider, but It was a really gross spider”

So the two teenagers spent the rest of the evening sat on on the floor swapping stories of how they got their powers and ended up enlisted on the _‘save the world’_ roster.

If tears were shed between them, Tony had the grace to look away.

 

(And when he found them fast asleep in the early hours, he moved Peter to the couch and carried Wanda to her room, hoping neither of them would get a stiff neck when they wake)

 

After that evening, things seemed to go well. His freaky kids made a tentative friendship to the point of making plans without him. Tony tried to act offended when Peter sent him a selfie of the two of them drinking milkshakes at Dairy queen but seeing the joy on their faces made his heart squeeze in a way he didn’t think possible. He didn’t even remind Wanda that grounded meant _stay in the damn apartment_. He’d lost that battle long ago and they deserved a chance to be young and goofy and take the weight of the world off their shoulders.

 It wasn’t fair what happened to them- what was happening around them as they were forced in the spotlight and under the microscope of scrutiny.

 So Wanda and Peter seemed close and Tony felt like he could breathe and relax about it. Peter seemed to genuinely adore Wanda- he’d called her his big sister on more than one occasion- it wasn’t even a quote from one of his never ending vine collection. It was all _fine_ and it felt like he’d wasted so much time worrying about them meeting he didn’t ever imagine it would go so well.

 It let Tony grow cocky. He didn’t bother warning them when the other was there meaning most weeknights were now available for Peter to swing round and chill even if all he ended up doing was hang out.

 

It appeared fine, which he should have realised meant it wasn't. It had been almost two months since his wayward teens met and since then Wanda had almost ceased going to the workshop with him. When he noticed her slipping grades again she turned down any attempt at help, throwing a classic door slamming tantrum when he told her she’d die an idiot if she didn’t try harder.

He put it down to her incarceration nearly being over. She’d be moving back to the compound soon enough, and back to a fuller schedule of training. (Even if Steve promised she’d be brought back into it gradually)

Still, he’d managed to coax her down to the lab with the promise of Led Zeppelin and the chance to explode things with her Psionic energy for some tests on the new gloves he was making her as a ‘ _go back out there and kick some ass_ ’ present.

“They’re like a faraday cage” Tony had tried explaining how they would stop her having to worry about sparking out during training because her power would be contained by them, but after several attempts he gave up.  

“Hey Mr Stark, I brought the donuts you wanted- oh hey Wands!”

“Oh. Peter” Wanda blinked, a small frown flickering on her face. “You’re here?”  
  
“Yeah! I’m helping Mr Stark fix your gloves”

“Magic mittens” She corrected. Peter gave her an indulgent smile and nodded in agreement.

Even as oblivious as he could be to these things, Tony noticed the tension creeping in the room. He cleared his throat “So Petey, you gonna help me on mark II or what?” Peter grinned and sprung to action, dropping the bag of sugary treats on a work surface.

After a while of mindlessly scrolling her phone Wanda walked over to them and asked if they could do something else.

Peter didn’t seem thrilled by the prospect, already having a blast working on something _official_ for the Avengers. “but Wands, this is for your birthday” She seemed to bristle at that and Tony made a point to ask Peter not to mention the B word later. It was going to be her first one without Pietro, so the whole team were awkwardly side stepping mentioning it.

“When is _your_ birthday, Peter? You seem like a leo” Wanda’s voice was almost sickly sweet, it instantly set Tony on edge. _What was she up to?_

“I...I _am_ ” Peter’s eyes went wide. “Is that a witch thing?”

“Ignore her, Petey, astrology is bullshit” both teens ignored him.  

“Sad. Stark is Gemini, i’m Aquarius- which means we get along. Nobody likes Leo’s” Tony narrowed his eyes at her. Was that...jealousy? Was Wanda being _jealous_? What the hell was that about?

“Well it’s a good job astrology is bullshit then” Tony said evenly.

“Not bullshit” She pointed to the screwdriver. “I can help?”

“You can watch” Tony said- perhaps a little blasé. “This is a bit beyond you, Spooky”

   
Wanda blinked, hurt flashing across her face as if it was news to her that she was useless in the workshop. As if the routine wasn’t her watching or doing her own thing whilst they kept each other company. “Then I’m going for a nap” she’d told them before slipping out.

 

When Tony's stomach rumbled, he figured it was probably a good time to stop- if anything to make sure Peter got fed before being sent home. It was easy to get caught up in the work bubble, letting things like hunger and thirst get sidetracked. It was one of the reasons Pepper loved Peter being around- his existence forced Tony to take breaks out of guilt that he'd acidentally starve the kid. 

"Aight, underoos. You good with Pizza?" Tony wiped his hands on an damp cloth before setting the wires back where he found them. 

"So good with Pizza, Mr Stark" Peter made a beeline for his bag, no doubt to text his Aunt with an update. 

“Good. Hey FRIDAY? Wake Sabrina for dinner, will you?”  
  
“She left two hours ago, boss”

 

 _What_.

 

His entire heart froze up, the air in his lungs constricting. Why the hell was he panicking? She wasn’t likely to get lost anymore.

 

But then, the thought of her getting overwhelmed on the streets and sparking out on some strangers when she was already clearly going through some emotional dilemma was a little worrying.

 

(And when he closed his eyes, he could still remember her lifeless in that hospital bed-)

 

He called Steve’s cell before he thought anymore on _that_. He picked up on the third ring and Tony didn’t give him a chance to speak before he blurted down the line “ _Is she with you?_ ”  

“Yes, she got in half an hour ago- can you come talk to her?” Steve sighed. “You’ve hurt her feelings-”  
  
“I hurt _her_ feelings? She’s hurting my _head._ How am I supposed to know what I did wrong if she keeps storming off?” Steve was suspiciously quiet. “She’s told you though, hasn’t she? What is it?”

He sighed again, his breath crackling and loud to Tony’s ear. “I promised Wanda-”

“Wanda can’t make good decisions. Spill, oh star spangled one”

“She thinks you’re replacing her”

“What, cause I have another annoying witch lying around?”

“ _Tony_ , come on. You must have noticed by now” and when Tony didn’t say anything he added on as tactfully as possible. “She sees you as a one of her father figures. You practically are her father, legally at least, and suddenly there’s this new kid in her space?”

“Peter’s not new! She’s known him a while now, they’re friends” The whole conversation was feeling like banging his head against a wall. As much as they all joked about it, Tony didn’t actually believe Wanda saw him as a father figure. That was _crazy_. He was the reason she didn’t have a dad to begin with-

“Face it, Tony, you’re a family man now” Steve said, interrupting him mid freakout. As terrifying as the prospect was, Steve was kind of right, he just didn’t want to admit it.

“I’ll be over ASAP” Tony hung up and debated grabbing Pepper and eloping to a remote village in the north pole. Anything to get away from teenage angst. Still, he got in his car and broke a couple of speed limits to reclaim his idiot.   

 

He knocked three times on Wanda’s door, and just like always ended up going in without invitation. She was reading _Frankenstein_ , again, which was already a huge indicator to her mood.

Because Wanda Maximoff didn’t just sympathise with the monster, she seemed entirely convinced Mary Shelley looked into the future and wrote the book about her. _Great_.

“So I spoke with Stevie. He totally tattled on you” Wanda groaned and pulled her knees up to her chest as she hide her face. “You should have talked to me about it, Kid”

“I do not know how” She frowned. “When I little, people always want Pietro not me, because Pietro was _everything_ good, I thnk maybe you think that with Peter” Wanda said quietly.

“Peter isn’t Pietro, you _do_ know that right?” His eyes wandered to the framed photos of her twin. The last thing they needed was her blurring the two in some kind of messed up coping mechanism.

“I know” She gritted her teeth. “But Peter is like him- He funny and smart and everyone likes him. I’m awkward and angry and you say i’m hothead and brat”

“Because you _are_ ” He pointed out. “But I want you around. I’d have changed the locks by now if I didn’t”

Wanda huffed and looked up at him, her hair falling into her face. “Locks cannot stop me”

  
“See saying stuff like that? that's why you don’t have any friends” He didn’t need to she her face to realise that was the wrong thing to say. “Sweetheart, I’m not replacing you. Peter is my intern, he’s also an Orphan with superpowers and apparently I collect those now. Maybe I’ll start a farm like Barton, let you both run wild on it”

“You don’t want me though”

“I _do”_ He insisted “in case you haven’t noticed, I care about you. Even when you’re a pain in my ass”

“...You promise?”

“Yes”

“Even though i’m...not smart like Peter?”

 

Everything clicked into place, like a jigsaw he didn’t know he was building. Of course that’s what it was all going back to. He could talk with Peter for hours on end with an equal understanding of the complexities of science, whereas he was still teaching Wanda what a cell structure was.

“You’re not _actually_ stupid, Maximoff. I mean, you might be on sixth grade chemistry but If I ever need a Molotov cocktail or some fake IDs I’ll come to you first” It won a flicker of a smile from her, and part of Tony was tempted to send her on a mission to acquire fake passports just to make her feel useful. “Now get off your ass, if your not ready in ten you can walk home”

 

After that evening, Tony made a point of telling her when Peter was coming over and Wanda was surprisingly okay with it. She made Peter a cake to say thank you helping him with her gloves that also felt a bit like a peace offering and they slowly fell back into a routine. They were back to being a goofy two headed demon sent to terrorise Tony in the best ways possible.  

Apparently Pepper had even caught them sliding down the hallway in their socks before she made them stop incase they broke something. Neither Steve nor May would be very happy with shattered femurs.

 

On the friday evening the week before he was meant to deliver her back to the full time care of the Avengers, Tony heard laughter coming from Wanda’s bedroom. Funny, considering he was _pretty_ sure she was meant to be back at the compound for her weekend training already.  

He dipped his head around the door and was greeted with the sight of his idiot teens sat in Wanda’s bed, the quilt over their waists. The pile of soft toys Wanda normal curled up with were lined up on the floor with the kind of loving care that only she could have for a squishy IKEA shark.

As much as she denied it, Tony was pretty sure she thought ‘ _tony shark_ ’ had feelings.   

“Uh, what’s this?” He asked. 

“Hey, Mr Stark” Peter grinned. Damnit, he really needed the kid to stop calling him that considering how Pepper brought him and Wanda along to a family dinner with her parents. One of the more delightful moments of Tony’s life was the horror on Mr Pott’s face when his beloved daughter introduced them as their kids.

“Sleepover” Wanda replied blithely, pausing whatever was playing on her laptop. “Pepper said it’s fine”

  
Well then. Who was he to argue? Between the three of them he got no respect in this family.

  
“Yeah, uh, don’t you have training tomorrow, Hot topic?” Getting Peter to his Aunt May’s place ‘ _before dinner_ ’ was a lot easier than delivering an exhausted witch for 6am training drills.

“Yes, but Nat’s on mission so I only have morning off”  

“You should get going, sweetheart”  

 “no, _please_ ? We want to watch _‘Alien’_ and Steve does not let me have boys in my room”

   
And that’s when the situation actually hit home. Wanda had a boy in her bed. _He_ should have thought about that. (Why didn’t Pepper- who always thought of everything- think of _that_?) Why had that rule been instated in the first place? Had Wanda been inviting boys over at the compound? He made a mental note to call Steve because there are certain things he should probably get told about and the emotionally unstable witch having a dating life was probably one of them.  
  


He really hoped she hadn’t tried to use Tinder again. There was a reason he’d blocked it on her phone.  


“Uh. right. Well...same rules apply here” God. When did he get so paternal?  

“ _What?_ ” the teens said together like some sort of two headed gremlin. Good lord he’d created a monster.

“Okay! _Okay_ fine. But you two are going to sleep soon right?”

“Yep” They promised. Lying asholes.

“Alright then” Tony didn’t fight them further. He was tired, he wanted to crawl into bed with Pepper and try not over think what the couple of idiots down the hall were doing.

Besides, What was the worst that could happen? Wanda was, whilst impulsive, a level headed and sensitive girl, and Peter, whilst easy to peer pressure, was the smartest kid he knew. They’d be _fine_. if any freak fires occurred they’d deal with it soon enough.

And it did feel sort of nice knowing his idiots were getting along _properly_.

  
Peter’s gasp echoed down the hallway. _“Wait, you have tattoos?! Man that’s so cool, I want one”_

 

Totally wasn’t going to regret introducing them.

  
_“Really? what if we get matched tattoos?”_  
  


Nope. No regrets at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hear me out: Wanda and Peter being friends would be the living embodiment of “someone will die” “OF FUN”  
> (who says what changes depending on the activity, but mostly Wanda is here for d e a t h)
> 
> Anyway It should be obvious but ‘sokovian’ is actually just croatian. Kim possible is more of a bop in Croatian imo. 
> 
> (Next time; Wanda falls out the closet like the disaster gay she is/ There's a Met Gala esque event that goes up in flames, depending which I finish first)


End file.
